Your kids - their world through a screen

It was a sensational winter day on Moreton Bay in Queensland and a friend’s children were out on his boat near Moreton Island. The water was like a millpond, virtually no wind and the winter sun was giving as much warmth as it could. The children are aged 22, 14 and 12. Two boys and a girl.

Without notice, a pod of about 12 dolphins appeared out of nowhere and started to break the water around them enjoying the day as much as those on the surface. They were popping in and out of the water effortlessly as dolphins do.

The 22 year old quickly grabbed his phone, opened up Camera, selected Video and started filming this natural wonder – dolphins at play. Then he noticed the weirdest thing.

The younger children were watching his screen. They were not watching the reality before them, they were focused on reality as seen through a screen. He yelled at them “Don’t watch the bloody screen, the dolphins are 20 feet away. Look at what is happening there” pointing at the dolphins. They kept staring at the screen totally absorbed in what was happening.

I had to write about this because I believe that this is a metaphor for what has been happening to our children over the past 5 to 10 years, probably more. They are conditioned to receiving the world through a screen be it mobile phone, tablet, laptop or TV screen.?

There will be parents reading this and nodding their heads because they have been vaguely or totally aware of this phenomenon.

It has got to be time to break this ‘habit’ and get kids out into the fresh air and sunshine without their screens experiencing life as it really is and not through some electronic device. Kids are our most precious future. Let’s give them at least some of the experiences that we enjoyed as kids.

Interested in your thoughts.